Chesapeake Bay News

BluHaven Piers is the newest Maryland Clean Marina to be certified by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The marina is the 145th facility to adopt a significant portion of recommendations from the Maryland Clean Marina Guidebook and pass a site inspection.

BluHaven Piers is a small marina with that offers boat repair, covered slips and kayak rentals and sales. The marina changed hands in 2006 and is now managed by St. Mary’s College alumni, Darden Pickall and Dan Sweeney. They have overseen significant improvements to the property in the past five years including taming overgrown weeds, painting and operations.

The Clean Marina Initiative is a voluntary program that promotes and celebrates efforts of marinas, boatyards and yacht clubs to reduce their pollution.

Maryland Clean Marinas are re-inspected at least every three years to ensure they continue to meet award standards. Marinas, boatyards and yacht clubs of any size in Maryland are encouraged to participate in the program.

Benefits include confidential compliance assistance, free promotion by DNR at regional boat shows, a free listing on the DNR website, use of the Clean Marina logo and—in many cases—discounts on marine insurance.

For more information, visit www.dnr.maryland.gov/boating/cleanmarina

source: MD DNR

The Board of Trustees of the Maryland Environmental Trust (MET) have awarded $26,000 in grants to 11 community groups and schools to restore streamside habitats, create community gardens and educate citizens about the environment across the State as part of the Keep Maryland Beautiful program.

The Margaret Rosch Jones Award is given to ongoing projects or activities that have demonstrated success in solving an environmental issue, whether local or statewide. The award, named in memory of Margaret Jones, the former executive director of the Keep Maryland Beautiful Program, recognizes organizations that have been actively educating people in their community about litter prevention, community beautification and local or statewide environmental issues and have been successful in eliminating or reducing the causes of a local environmental problem.

The 2011 recipients of the Margaret Rosch Jones Award are Antietam Creek Watershed Association, Braddock Run Watershed Association, C.A.R.E Community Association, Friends of Pataspco, Maryland Public Television, Marley Middle School, the National Aquarium and St. Mary’s River Watershed Association. Projects include community gardens, invasive plant removal, stream clean-ups, rain gardens and conservation education programs.

The Bill James Environmental Grants are awarded to nonprofit youth groups for new environmental education projects in their community. The grants are given in memory of Senator William S. James who drafted legislation in 1976 to create the Maryland Environmental Trust, incorporating the activities of the Governor’s Committee to the Keep Maryland Beautiful program.

The 2011 recipients of the Bill James Grants are Dwight D. Eisenhower Middle School Green Club, the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services, Red Wiggler Community Farm and Manchester Valley High School Science Research. Projects include reducing stream erosion, native tree nursery and planting programs, blue crab and water salinity science projects and on-farm learning opportunities in educational programs.

The Keep Maryland Beautiful program is funded in part by the Maryland State Highway Administration, a division of the Maryland Department of Transportation.

For more information on Keep Maryland Beautiful, visit http://www.dnr.state.md.us/met/grant_programs.asp

source: MD DNR

On May 25, 2011, A coalition of environmental groups announced that they have filed a motion in federal court to oppose the efforts of major national agricultural organizations to force an end to federal and state programs to reduce pollution and restore the Chesapeake Bay.

The coalition includes the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future, Defenders of Wildlife, the Jefferson County Public Service District, the Midshore Riverkeeper Conservancy, and the National Wildlife Federation.

Within days after the federal government announced scientific pollution limits and the states laid out specific plans to reduce pollution in local rivers, streams, and the Chesapeake Bay, the American Farm Bureau Federation and the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau went to federal court in Pennsylvania to stop those efforts.

They have since been joined by other national agricultural lobbying groups, including the Fertilizer Institute, the National Pork Producers Council, the National Corn Growers Association, the National Chicken Council, the U.S. Poultry and Egg Association, and the National Turkey Federation.

“Just as the Bay is making progress in its long fight to survive, these big money industry lobbyists are trying to derail the process.  Why? A simple profit motive,” said Chesapeake Bay Foundation President William C. Baker. “They want the rest of us to suffer dirty and dangerous water so they can maximize their corn, hog, and poultry profit.”

For decades, science has known that nitrogen and phosphorus pollution are responsible for the dead zones, fish kills, and harmful algal blooms that annually plague the Chesapeake Bay. Under the Clean Water Act, and as the result of numerous court cases, a scientific limit, or TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load), has been set.

State governments then developed plans designed to ensure that all pollution control measures needed to fully restore the Bay and its tidal rivers are in place by 2025, with at least 60 percent of the actions completed by 2017. Science set the limits, and the states designed individual plans to achieve the goals.

Opponents of the pollution limits claim that EPA is overstepping its authority, and wants the process to start all over again.

source: press release from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation,  Defenders of Wildlife, Midshore Riverkeeper Conservancy, National Wildlife Federation & Penn Future

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF), the Virginia State Waterman’s Association (VSWA), Merck & Company, and the Commonwealth of Virginia have agreed to settle a CBF/VSWA lawsuit challenging pollution limits granted to Merck by the State Water Control Board in 2009.

The settlement, approved by Richmond Circuit Judge Melvin R. Hughes Jr., confirms that Merck’s nitrogen and phosphorus pollution discharges into the South Fork Shenandoah River will conform with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL). The Water Board agreed to the settlement provisions earlier this month.

CBF and VSWA sued the Water Board in 2009 for issuing a permit to Merck that allowed the company to dump more pollution into the South Fork Shenandoah River than state law then allowed. Since that time, EPA has issued the TMDL for the Bay and its tributaries, including the Shenandoah River system.

“Since CBF and VSWA filed their lawsuit, Bay cleanup has received a tremendous boost through the issuance of the Bay TMDL, which when implemented will significantly reduce the levels of pollution entering Virginia rivers and the Chesapeake Bay,” said CBF Virginia Staff Attorney Peggy Sanner. “Merck’s legal pollution discharges are and will be consistent with the Bay TMDL under this agreement. That is a victory for a cleaner Bay.”

Ken Smith, president of the Virginia Waterman’s Association, called the settlement a positive step for Bay restoration and watermen.

“At the end of the day, watermen are among those who suffer most from a polluted Chesapeake Bay,” Smith said, “and they will be among those who benefit the most from full implementation of the TMDL. The settlement is evidence Virginia is taking seriously its commitment to reducing pollution.”

source: CBF

According to the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, watermen succeeded in hauling up more than 10,000 derelict so-called “ghost pots,” lost fishing nets, and assorted metal junk from the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries in the third year of Virginia’s one-of-a-kind Marine Debris Removal Program.

The program, funded by NOAA through the Virginia Marine Resources Commission and administered by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, paid the watermen to use side-imaging sonar units to detect and retrieve lost or abandoned crab pots and other marine debris that litter the Bay floor. The 70 watermen participants were paid $300 a day, and were compensated for their fuel costs.

VIMS scientists  have analyzed the program’s accomplishments in its third year and discovered:

• A total of 9,970 derelict crab pots were recovered, along with 52 lost nets and 532 other pieces of junk, including a jon boat, a portable generator frame, and a large metal crate used to transport hunting dogs.

• Many of the recovered pots had been derelict for several years, and continue to inadvertently trap and kill crabs and a variety of fish and wildlife.

• The recovered crab pots were found to have captured over the winter more than 11,000 animals, including thousands of crabs, as well as turtles, fish, eels, and whelks. Scientists have determined that each functional lost crab pot can capture about 50 crabs a year.

Ongoing research at VIMS funded through NOAA’s Marine Debris Program suggests 20 percent of all the crab pots set in a year are lost, primarily due to storms or boat propellers that accidentally cut the pots free from their buoys.

The marine debris removal was the first, and is the largest program of its kind in the country. The program costs roughly $1 million a year. It is funded by NOAA through blue crab disaster funds made available to the Virginia Marine Resources Commission. VIMS handled the daily operation of the program and supervision of the participating watermen. The program ran from December through March 15.

Recovered ghost pots and other debris were GPS-located and photographed, and participant boat tracks were also recorded. All marine debris were disposed of in a safe and environmentally conscious manner or recycled.

Since the Marine Debris Removal Program began in December 2008, more than 28,000 lost or abandoned crab pots have been removed from the water, as well as 150 lost fishing nets and 1,300 pieces of assorted metal junk. More than 27,000 animals, many already dead, were found in crab pots retrieved since 2008.

This year’s haul of marine debris was more than in either of the last two years.

More information on the program’s results can be found on the program’s website http://ccrm.vims.edu/marine_debris_removal/index.html

source: VMRC

Revised fish consumption advisories from the Maryland Department of the Environment show that a healthy diet can include more striped bass than previously recommended.

MDE’s revised advisories increase the recommended meal limits for striped bass for nearly every population group for fish caught in the Chesapeake Bay or in Maryland’s Atlantic coastal waters.

The new recommendations stem from recent test results that showed a significant decline in levels of contaminants in striped bass from Maryland waters. Also, MDE data suggest that contaminant levels are even lower in striped bass fillets prepared, as the Department has long recommended, without fatty portions of the fish.

The striped bass, also known as rockfish, is the iconic species of Maryland sport fishing. Its population, once so threatened that a moratorium was placed on its harvesting, has rebounded in recent years.

The revised advisories being announced also include recommendations on the consumption of bluefish caught in Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Coast.

MDE publicizes fish consumption advisories in a number of ways, including information on the Department’s website, postings at fishing locations as practical, and through outreach to target audiences such as anglers, through the guidebook typically distributed with fishing licenses, and to pregnant women and to children, through WIC centers.

source: MDE

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) and its partners are calling on the federal government to conduct a comprehensive scientific analysis of  the cumulative impacts of natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale formation in the six Bay states, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, and Virginia.

The first action was to file a legal petition, under the National Environmental Policy Act, calling for that comprehensive analysis, called a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, of the risks and cumulative impacts of the extraction of natural gas from the Marcellus shale formation in the Chesapeake Bay states. Once the analysis is complete the petition calls on the government to make appropriate decisions about the need for new regulatory action.

The petition was signed by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF), National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Shenandoah Valley Network, The Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds, Damascus Citizens for Sustainability, and Friends of the Upper Delaware River.

CBF also sent a letter to President Obama in support of the legal petition, signed more than 120 businesses, organizations, elected officials, and individuals who are extremely concerned about the unknown consequences and cumulative impacts of natural gas extraction from the Marcellus shale formation on the environment, drinking water and human health, and America’s treasured lands such as our national parks, wilderness areas, and wildlife refuges. Signatories to the letter include Audubon Pennsylvania, Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future (PennFuture), the Mid-Atlantic Council Trout Unlimited, The Garden Club of America, and American Rivers.

While natural gas in the Marcellus shale offers an abundant source of domestically-produced energy that can create jobs and provide income, the history of resource extraction in this country is littered with long-lasting environmental degradation and risks to human health.

Drilling is already causing damage, to both human health and the environment. There has been contamination of drinking water wells, gas bubbling up into the Susquehanna River, spills of fracking water and diesel fuel, fires, blowouts, and explosions.

“The law is clear that the federal government is required to undertake a comprehensive study if activities like Marcellus drilling are likely to affect the environment through the release of hazardous substances, result in significant cumulative adverse impacts on local air quality, or significantly affect important resources including wetlands, aquifer recharge zones, or fish or wildlife habitat,” said CBF attorney Amy McDonnell. “It is good science and good business to get the facts and that is what we are seeking. Nothing less than human health is also at stake.”

In many of the Bay states, most notably in Pennsylvania, natural gas wells are being permitted at breakneck speed with scant regard to the cumulative damage that is occurring, or support for the affected communities. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, the state issued over 1,900 permits for Marcellus shale drilling in 2009. In 2010 it issued over 3,300 more. And, in the first two months of 2011, Pennsylvania issued an additional 590 permits. If that pace continues, Pennsylvania will approve over 3,500 new permits this year alone.

A preliminary report from the Academy of Natural Sciences tested water, and looked for sensitive insects and salamanders in areas with no wells, few wells, and high numbers of wells. It found that as the number of wells in an area increased, water quality deteriorated, and the number of insects and salamanders decreased by 25 percent. In a press statement Dr. David Velinsky of the Academy of Natural Sciences said, “This suggests there is indeed a threshold at which drilling—regardless of how it is practiced—will have a significant impact on an ecosystem.”

“With 35 national parks within or near the Marcellus Shale formation, including nine in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, the threats to our national treasures are great,” said Cinda Waldbuesser, senior program manager for NPCA’s Pennsylvania field office.  “The economic benefits of natural gas development must not compromise the long-term benefits of protecting water quality and preserving our national parks, which are already economic generators for local communities.”

The Executive Order issued by President Obama in 2009 says, “Restoration of the health of the Chesapeake Bay will require a renewed commitment to controlling pollution from all sources as well as protecting and restoring habitat and living resources, conserving lands, and improving management of natural resources, all of which contribute to improved water quality and ecosystem health. The Federal Government should lead this effort.”

And though there are several risk assessments underway, none is comprehensive or complete. The cumulative effects of pollution from Marcellus shale drilling activities currently underway or proposed in the future have not been assessed or factored in to any of the state plans to reduce pollution.

source: Chesapeake Bay Foundation

According to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, early March runoff into the Susquehanna River watershed from heavy rains and snowmelt has brought a flood of nutrients and sediment-laden freshwater flowing into the Chesapeake Bay. This heavy spring runoff has resulted in record low water clarity for the month of March in many areas of Maryland’s portion of the Chesapeake Bay.

Continued wet spring weather could extend these high flows which, in turn, could result in less underwater grasses and increased algal blooms. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is expected to continue its comprehensive Chesapeake Bay water quality habitat and living resources monitoring to assess any short- or long-term storm-related impacts.

On March 12, 2011, two days after a very heavy rain event (2+ inches) across the region, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recorded a peak “flow” of 485,000 cubic feet/second (cfs) from the Susquehanna River at Conowingo Dam. Average monthly flows at that site in March are about 75,000 cfs. This is the highest average daily flow rate observed at the dam since floodwaters from Tropical Storm Ivan passed in September 2004.

A review of 26 years of water clarity data collected by the State shows that depth measurements in the Chesapeake Bay and many tributaries in March 2011 are below historic measures or set new historic lows.

A high amount of freshwater flowing into the Chesapeake Bay erodes sediments and transports polluted runoff (including nutrients and sediments) downstream towards the Bay.

The early spring season is a critical period for underwater grasses, which are beginning to grow. Also affected are saltwater and anadromous fish such as striped bass, yellow perch, river herring and American shad, all of which spawn in the Chesapeake during the Spring.

On World Water Day (March 22, 2011), America’s Great Waters Coalition designated nine new Great Waters, including the New York/New Jersey Harbor, the Albemarle Pamlico Sound in North Carolina, and the Colorado River.

The Coalition works to ensure the restoration of America’s Great Waters to protect people, wildlife, and the economy by advocating for adequate funding for restoration efforts and raise awareness and educate decision makers about the challenges facing our nation’s Great Waters.

“We cannot afford not to protect our Great Waters,” said Theresa Pierno, co-chair for the America’s Great Waters Coalition and executive vice president for the National Parks Conservation Association.  “The health of our Great Waters is directly linked to America’s economic recovery and the creation of jobs. Millions of jobs are dependent on our Great Waters and contribute trillions to our nation’s economy.”

For more than three decades, landmark legislation and funding for restoration efforts has protected America waterways. With intense disagreement on funding levels for fiscal year 2011, funding for critical restoration projects is at risk. The Coalition is advocating that decision makers support restoration efforts for America’s waterways that are critical to local economies and way of life for communities nationwide.

“Cuts now will cost us later,” said Roy A. Hoagland, co-chair for the America’s Great Waters Coalition and vice president at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. “The longer we wait to invest in restoring our nation’s Great Waters – whether it be the Chesapeake Bay, the Everglades, Great Lakes, Long Island Sound, Puget Sound, San Francisco Bay, the Gulf of Mexico or others – the more we will have to pay to achieve healthy ecosystems. It is frightening to consider the impacts that major funding cuts would have on the health of our Great Waters.”

In addition to the Chesapeake Bay and 9 other Great Waters already designated, the Coalition added the following bodies of water: the Albemarle Pamlico Sound, Colorado River, Delaware River, Galveston Bay, Missouri River, Narragansett Bay, New York/New Jersey Harbor, Ohio River, and the Rio Grande.

While the Great Waters vary in geographic location and physical characteristics, they are plagued by similar problems such as toxic pollution, altered water flows, habitat loss and destruction, invasive species, and more.  However, across the country, restoration efforts funded by the federal government are producing on-the-ground results.

The Coalition consists of more than 50 local, regional, and national organizations that believe that speaking with a united voice and working together will help nationalize Great Waters’ priorities, and will bring more strength to each region’s restoration efforts.

To learn more about the Great Waters Coalition, visit: www.nwf.org/greatwaters.

River coordinators from 13 of 18 Chesapeake Bay participating tributaries met on March 2 with Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) staff on Kent Island to prepare for the Marylanders Grow Oysters summer growing season.

The 13 local program sponsors, managers from the DNR Fisheries Service shellfish division and the Oyster Recovery Partnership spent the day discussing the results of the past three years, the benefits of the program for oysters and for the Bay citizenry, and how the program can be improved.

Coordinators shared their experiences and advice with one another to improve their efforts and methods. They also discussed logistics for the collection of oysters this summer, which will be planted in local sanctuaries. Last summer, approximately 1.9 million oysters were grown by the volunteer growers and were planted in sanctuaries.

Through the Marylanders Grow Oysters Program, citizen volunteers tend to young oysters growing in wire mesh cages suspended from private piers for their first year of life. The oyster spat and cages are provided by DNR and other program partners at no charge to the volunteers. The oysters require minimal care – mostly rinsing the cages every two weeks.

Citizen oyster growers enjoy the personal rewards of stewardship and learn about oysters while contributing to the enhancement of an oyster reef in their local tributary. The year-old oysters are collected and planted in a local oyster sanctuary, and a new group of young oysters is distributed to participating growers to start the process again.

In more good news for Maryland’s native oyster, DNR’s most recent oyster survey showed promising results. The number of spat or baby oysters in Maryland waters is at its highest level since 1997, the survival rate for young oysters is also up and more Marylanders are looking to start up or expand aquaculture businesses.

Governor O’Malley launched the program in 2008 with nearly 900 oyster cages along the Tred Avon River. DNR expanded the program with various oyster partners and now about 8,000 cages, tended by approximately 1,500 growers, are located in 18 tributaries. The oyster cages are built by Maryland inmates at Maryland Correctional Enterprises in Hagerstown and the Eastern Pre-Release Unit in Church Hill. Additional inmates assist with oyster spat production at the DNR hatchery in St. Mary’s County.

The Marylanders Grow Oysters Program is managed by the DNR in conjunction with the Oyster Recovery Partnership, the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science which produces the majority of the spat, and the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.

For more information about Marylanders Grow Oysters visit oysters.maryland.gov

source: MD DNR